“15.55 on Sunday. Only the wind makes it not invade us for now. It just turned on, it just turned on”. With these words and filming a video with his own cell phone, the mayor of Rosario, Paul Javkinrecorded today with a tone of desperation how a column of smoke rose from the islands located on the other side of the Paraná River and covered the city.
“Judges, national officials, the activities of the national forces on the River, the brigade that was going to establish the province of Entre Ríos on the ground,” Javkin listed, and prayed: “It has just happened. Go now!”
According to the mayor of Rosario, the fire is not the result of a controlled fire, but of criminal activity. “There are the criminals who caught. This is not producer fire or anything that is calculated or scheduled”, He pointed out in the video released this afternoon.
And he pointed out: “This is now a criminal activity. Take action, judges! Put people in jail! What else are we going to have from Rosario for this to stop?.
In the images released by Javkin, a column of smoke can be seen growing in the distance on a windy Rosario sunset. As reported this morning by the local newspaper The capitalthe Emergency Operations Center of the Municipality of Rosario (Coem) warned that this Sunday the city and a vast region of influence are being affected by smoke from fires located in front of San Nicolás, approximately 50 kilometers from Rosario , those who are active since last July 17.
As a result of the fires that have not yet been controlled, for days the residents of the area have been victims of the polluting smoke. “The consequences of the spread of the fire in the Paraná Delta are made as palpable as in the worst days since the environmental crisis began in 2020″, assure local media, which warn about how difficult it has become to breathe in this context.
“Now in Rosario, the smoke from the Islands, you can’t breathe”assured the user Maria Cecilia Posada on her Twitter profile, where reproaches and complaints about the environmental situation are concentrated.
“Here trying to cover every last little hole so that the smell of smoke from the islands does not enter,” protested another user on the networks.
“Huge column of smoke from the burning on the islands. Once again”, said Alan Monzón, with an image of the situation.
According to the National Meteorological Service (SMN), Rosario now has a partially cloudy sky with smoke. Starting tomorrow, the national body announces chances of rainfall for Monday -40% in the morning and 70% in the afternoon-, which could improve the situation.
At the beginning of 2020 they began to reiterate the fires in the Paraná Delta. Since then, in a period of two years, 742,000 hectares have been burned: almost 40 times the area of the city of Buenos Aires. Droughts, extraordinary downflow of the river and the lack of legal protection of the areas are among the causes that have led to the thousands of fires.
Given this situation, the authorities drew up “a commitment between the Nation, the provinces and the municipalities involved that allow progress in complying with what is required by the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation in relation to sustainable management and fire prevention in the area”. This was pointed out by sources from the Ministry of the Environment led by Juan Cabandié, last year.
In addition, the authorities that will integrate the High-Level Interjurisdictional Committee (CIAN-PIECAS) were appointed and it was agreed to form the Environmental Emergency Committee, something that the Supreme Court of the Nation demanded.